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Old April 29, 2011, 02:01 AM
chriskicks chriskicks is offline
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Cool Hola! :D

hey everyone!
only JUST started learning spanish. i found this site and i thought it would be really helpful. so far im really enjoying learning this language. it's much different than learning a language in high school. i always hated language class!

so after 4 scarring years of dealing with a horrific german teacher and her crazy methods, i overcame the fear of committing myself to a language and thought i would try my luck with español!

so please be prepared for many silly questions that i will ask on this lingual adventure of mine, and i hope to make some pals on here.

hopefully me and spanish will be able to get along!
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  #2  
Old April 29, 2011, 09:15 AM
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Perikles Perikles is offline
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Hello - welcome from me
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Old April 29, 2011, 02:47 PM
Luna Azul Luna Azul is offline
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There are no silly questions..

Just ask and one of us will reply.

Welcome to the forums..
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Old April 29, 2011, 05:33 PM
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You'll find that Romance languages are the best for English speakers. I'm sure you'll progress ten times as quickly in Spanish than you have with German. I know I have. When I only had a month of study of Spanish, I was able to read most websites in Spanish without a dictionary. After a much longer time of learning German, I still know almost nothing. I can only read the most basic of things in German.
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Old April 30, 2011, 01:16 AM
chriskicks chriskicks is offline
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haha "romance languages", i'm guessing they would include french, spanish, italian.. any others?

i think back then i had no desire to learn, so that prevented me from getting any further progress with german. though now i do sincerely regret it.

i have studied japanese for a year (but unfortunately had to stop) which was really enjoyable, but it was also very difficult. i feel like i know as much spanish in one term as i do with a years work of japanese.

the reason for switching to spanish is because i have a chilean partner there is no real language barrier between us, but it would be nice to get some spanglish flowing. it will be easier to express ourselves in our lenguas maternas.

i have to say, learning this time around is a lot smoother for some reason. i havent found any real frustrations yet. and most importantly, i am enjoying learning the language

thanks for all the warm welcomes everyone!
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Old April 30, 2011, 08:58 AM
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Quote:
haha "romance languages", i'm guessing they would include french, spanish, italian.. any others?
Yeah, tons of them. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages

And once you learn even a little of one, you'll be able to understand (especially in written form) the other ones as well. Not as well as you can understand the one(s) you've learned, but you'll still understand quite a bit. The Romance languages are the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. The Germanic languages (like German, Dutch, Swedish, and many others) are the second easiest to learn, but still are much harder than Romance languages. And when it comes to Romance languages, Spanish is usually rated as the easiest Romance language to learn for English speakers. In pronunciation for instance and writing for instance, it is easier than Portuguese or French. There are also about 20 countries that speak Spanish, so that means you have a lot of people to practice with, a lot of different cultures to interact with, and there are a ton of books and websites written in Spanish. If you are not afraid to try to read things that sound like they would be hard, after you start studying Spanish for a few months, you should look at lists of cognates (words that are similar to English words)--there are many lists available on the internet, you will find that you can read books that use a lot of technical vocabulary (such as books about science, technology, computing, religion, etc.) quite easily--almost as easily as reading English. I've studied Spanish for less than a year, putting an average amount of effort into it, and I can read these things very easily. If you are interested in knowing why this is so, look up the history of the English language, especially the part about the Norman conquest of England in the year 1066. This does not happen with learning any other language family--like the Germanic languages, the Slavic languages, etc. They get harder when it comes to reading technical material. So you have a treat in Spanish, because you will be able to read interesting stuff very soon, whereas your peers learning, say German, or Russian, will still be reading children's books.
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Old April 30, 2011, 09:40 AM
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Welcome!
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Old April 30, 2011, 03:39 PM
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Hello I bid you welcome.

I hope your stay in the forums, it will be enjoyable, after I'm learning English on my own, I have knew to appreciate the learning already this takes more time and you spend more time with yourself applying in the prefer language.

Then I like your thinking now always the training class the best choice, it sometimes mix you than teach you correctly.

Sincerely yours.
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Old May 01, 2011, 02:32 AM
chriskicks chriskicks is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caballero View Post
Yeah, tons of them. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_languages

And once you learn even a little of one, you'll be able to understand (especially in written form) the other ones as well. Not as well as you can understand the one(s) you've learned, but you'll still understand quite a bit. The Romance languages are the easiest languages for English speakers to learn. The Germanic languages (like German, Dutch, Swedish, and many others) are the second easiest to learn, but still are much harder than Romance languages. And when it comes to Romance languages, Spanish is usually rated as the easiest Romance language to learn for English speakers. In pronunciation for instance and writing for instance, it is easier than Portuguese or French. There are also about 20 countries that speak Spanish, so that means you have a lot of people to practice with, a lot of different cultures to interact with, and there are a ton of books and websites written in Spanish. If you are not afraid to try to read things that sound like they would be hard, after you start studying Spanish for a few months, you should look at lists of cognates (words that are similar to English words)--there are many lists available on the internet, you will find that you can read books that use a lot of technical vocabulary (such as books about science, technology, computing, religion, etc.) quite easily--almost as easily as reading English. I've studied Spanish for less than a year, putting an average amount of effort into it, and I can read these things very easily. If you are interested in knowing why this is so, look up the history of the English language, especially the part about the Norman conquest of England in the year 1066. This does not happen with learning any other language family--like the Germanic languages, the Slavic languages, etc. They get harder when it comes to reading technical material. So you have a treat in Spanish, because you will be able to read interesting stuff very soon, whereas your peers learning, say German, or Russian, will still be reading children's books.
ah wow i had no idea! you sound like a linguistics major! and thank for your for the cognates tip! that will definitely come in handy later on.

saying that you've been learning for less than a year and being able to read some books excites me all the more. thanks so much!

CrOtALiTo thank you very much for your warm welcome. i think it is amazing that you are studying english by yourself. that is VERY courageous! it seems like you are doing a great job so far!

LibraryLady thank you!
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Old May 02, 2011, 02:34 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chriskicks View Post
ah wow i had no idea! you sound like a linguistics major! and thank for your for the cognates tip! that will definitely come in handy later on.

saying that you've been learning for less than a year and being able to read some books excites me all the more. thanks so much!

CrOtALiTo thank you very much for your warm welcome. i think it is amazing that you are studying english by yourself. that is VERY courageous! it seems like you are doing a great job so far!

LibraryLady thank you!

Thank you for your accomplishment, I'm ready in English at least for makes some conversation about my needed.

I don't know what is the percentage of this courageous of this kind to method of learning for me, perhaps I utilized this method all the time that I reached the objective of learn not completely but yes one part of that.

Someday somebody told me you never will learn nor a little English yourself, and today I can tell you the contrary.


Sincerely yours.
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